All-Access with Bruce Arians: Too many dropped interceptions

By Craig Grialou | August 5, 2014 at 7:45 pmUPDATED: August 5, 2014 at 7:45 pm

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Head coach Bruce Arians, now in his second year with the Arizona Cardinals, meets the media each day during training camp.

Here, in this space, we’ll highlight many of the key topics and personal conversations he has with reporters following the morning walk-through:

“Coop [Jonathan Cooper], Nate Potter and Jake Ballard will all miss (Tuesday) with sore knees, but they’ll all be back tomorrow. John Brown is up and ready to go today.

“Yesterday’s practice, I thought, was outstanding other than we dropped too many interceptions and the quarterbacks threw too many interceptions that got dropped. But, again, it was (a) very competitive — I thought — up-tempo, good practice. Look for the same thing today in shorts and shoulder pads. Looking forward to continuing to build on solid practices.”

What’s the biggest challenge for a young safety like Deone Bucannon?

“Well, the biggest thing — we’ll find out starting Saturday — is that when you don’t wrap your arms (around the defender), they bounce off and keep running. You don’t knock ’em down like you do in college — the speed of the game like most of them. Everybody has got great receivers. Everybody has got great tight ends. You’re not covering anybody’s weak link like you would in college and (could) get by with it. But he has intensity about him. He brings his lunch pail to work every day and tries to get better. He’ll make strides.”

Has Tony Jefferson’s development allowed you to bring Bucannon along gradually?

“Buc is going to have to earn it because Tony is not going to give to him, and he’s playing extremely well right now.”

On overhauling the safety position and adding depth since arriving in Arizona

“There was an age factor when we got here. Great players hit a certain level and they can’t cover the ground they used to. And the injuries mounted. We wanted to be faster and more physical. It’s hard to get more physical than Adrian (Wilson) was in his prime, but that’s the type of player you’re looking for.”

On Sam Acho’s progress

“He’s playing really, really fast and is around the quarterback probably more than anybody right now. Sam plays with a very high motor all the time, and if you’re going against him, you can’t relax. I’d like to see him against a guy like (Houston Texans’) Duane Brown, how long Duane plays. Those are good measuring sticks when you go against an All-Pro tackle if you’re really back.”

How do you feel about your outside linebackers thus far in camp?

“There’s great competition and they’re flexible in that. We have big run stoppers and we’ve got some guys who have power. It’s just continuing to learn to rush the passer, for Sam, for (Alex) Okafor (and) even (Matt) Shaughnessy to create another move so you don’t have just one or two. You’ve got to continue to create more moves to get to the quarterback.”

What have you seen out of Kareem Martin so far?

“Very explosive. Doing a better job of keeping his pads down and being physical. He has some pass-rush skills. He has that good length and a good first step — things that you can build off of.”